A week after SxSW and I'm a bit ho-hum.

(Pictured at right: Erik Childress, Eugene Novikov, Laura Kyle, Eric Snider, Scott Weinberg, Jason Whyte and William B. Goss esq.)

So I've once again let this blog fall by the wayside. With that said, I had a pretty good excuse. I was in Austin, Texas for a week and a few days getting drunk on independent film at this year's South By Southwest Film Conference and Festival. There was also a heavy dosage of music to be had, but I was stuck checking out the films and my only music experience was what I walked by on 6th street.

I didn't MEAN to fall off the face of the earth and not update, but ever since I got back I've been A: Sick and B: In a funk. I got a really nasty cold, probably from one of my three plane rides back. The throat still hurts as I type this. That'll teach me to book my flight on Expedia a bit earlier. But it was worth it, as I had such a wonderful time seeing friends, making new ones and I didn't want the experience to end. Hence, the funk.

But I have to look back on the memories!

In one short week, I:
- Met six of my fellow efilmcritic cronies for the first time. The first was Scott Weinberg at a press screening of Disturbia, then Snider who was stuck in traffic but made the screening a moment or two late, then Goss at the airport, then picked Laura up at her house and finally Erik and Eugene at registration. Until SxSW, I had only slept on Chris Parry's couch for a month and crashed at his house on weekends. How things have changed.
- Saw the funniest film of 2007, Knocked Up, with all of my efilmcritic cronies. One of my favorite moments of the festival was having EFC'er and Mr. Skin representative Erik Childress tap me on the shoulder and say "This is unofficially the greatest movie ever." while we howled with laughter at a Mr. Skin reference in the film.
- Met Bill Paxton (left) and chatted with him for a few minutes about his film Frailty and working with amazing cinematographer Bill Butler.
- Ate my weight in food at the best cinema in the world, the Alamo Drafthouse (which is moving to a new location on 6th street this year!) and even an occasional beer or two. I'll talk more about the place later, but my god do we need one of these in every major city.
- Met everyone from the Cinematical family, from Weinberg to Jette to James. Interesting clan, them.
- Made festival friends in Max, Caren, Jen, Joe, Moises and several others that I was hanging out at screenings with. I was especially jealous of Caren's music hopping and that wristband.
- Listened to Will Goss snore.
- Told Laura I thought she was a knockout in person rather than just on AIM.
- Met the hilarious Jonah Hill from "Accepted" and "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" and told him he was a comedic genius and the world doesn't know it yet, but I do.
- Saw 48 films, sometimes hitting up as much as six films a day. And working on reviews of a good chunk of them as we speak.

MORE PICTURES
PHOTOS BY WEINBERG

More to come...

Jason
efilmcritic.com